SAN FRANCISCO: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - From every slot in a talented, experienced rotation to the back end of the bullpen and in between, to the starting fielders and the role players on the bench, it's hard to find a member of the San Francisco Giants pleased with his 2013 season.
A year after winning the World Series, the Giants finished 10 games under .500, third in the NL West and they missed the playoffs.
''We don't even have to have the conversation, a lot of the guys know it,'' right-hander Matt Cain said. ''We didn't pitch the way that we wanted to.''
As the Giants begin a new year, they will try to keep up with the big-spending Los Angeles Dodgers and regain the grip they had on the NL West when the club won World Series championships in 2010 and `12 - even if everybody expects the Dodgers to be the team to beat.
''You do try to reflect back and try to learn from what happened last year and how you can get better,'' manager Bruce Bochy said. ''You move forward, that's what we had to do. There are some things we'll talk about in the spring, mistakes that we made last year. Also, hopefully guys come in with an attitude, that they weren't happy with what happened the year before and want to get back on track.''
Buster Posey certainly doesn't want to spend too much time thinking about last season.
''That's probably how everybody feels. There's a bad taste in a lot of guys' mouths,'' Posey said. ''We want to come out and focus on winning ballgames.''

CHICAGO CUBS: CHICAGO (AP) - Wrigley Field is decked out for the party of a century.
As for the Chicago Cubs?
It looks like there won't be much to celebrate this season other than their ballpark's 100th anniversary. As Wrigley hits a milestone, the Cubs remain in a rebuilding mode, hoping to avoid their fifth straight losing season.
They have a new manager in Rick Renteria. Their outlook looks about the same, though.
It's all about the future, the prized prospects in the system, no matter how painful that might be to the players in uniform at the major league level. More lumps appear to be in store for the Cubs as they enter their third year with Theo Epstein as president of baseball operations.
''The objective is to win as many games as possible, be the last man standing and bring a championship to the city of Chicago,'' pitcher Edwin Jackson said. ''The motivation is still the same. The message is still the same. We want to go out and win. We don't want to go out and be a pushover.''

Jake Peavy finally ended a career-worst losing streak last week and gave the San Francisco Giants the kind of performance they wanted when they acquired him last month.

The right-hander will seek to lift his potentially weary teammates with another strong outing, and the Giants look to add to Chicago Cubs right-hander Edwin Jackson's struggles while ending a season-worst road skid Wednesday night.

Peavy earned his first win in 19 starts and first in four games for the Giants last Wednesday with a 7-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. He yielded one run in seven innings after going 0-12 with a 5.25 ERA during his winless drought, which began after an 8-1 victory in Toronto on April 25 pitching for Boston.

The Giants landed the veteran from the Red Sox on July 26, and he went 0-3 with a 4.82 ERA in his first three starts with the club.

"It was just a conversation piece," Peavy told MLB's official website. "Everything has an expiration date."

He now looks to help the Giants regain sole possession of the NL's second wild card spot and trim a 4 1/2-game deficit to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.

Peavy (1-3, 3.86 ERA) will also try to help the Giants rebound from a rain-shortened 2-0 loss in Tuesday's opener at Wrigley Field, their seventh in 10 games. After playing 4 1/2 innings, the Giants had to wait around 4 1/2 hours before their fifth consecutive road loss was official, their longest skid there since a seven-game losing streak June 15-29, 2013.

Peavy gave up two runs and fanned seven in six innings for Boston in his only other matchup with the Cubs this season, but was saddled with a 2-0 loss June 30. He was tagged for six runs in four innings in his most recent visit to Wrigley - an 8-3 loss for the White Sox on May 30, 2013 - after going 3-2 with a 3.05 ERA in his first seven starts there.

Jackson (6-13, 5.74) didn't fare much better in his most recent start at Wrigley on Thursday, getting charged with five runs in 4 2-3 innings in a 6-2 loss to Milwaukee. He's 0-5 with a 9.10 ERA in his last six home starts and 1-6 with a 6.75 ERA in his last 10 overall.

The right-hander owns MLB's highest ERA among qualifying starters, with John Danks' 4.94 for the White Sox the next closest. His 42 losses since 2012 are also the most of any pitcher.

"At this level, you can't afford to get down," Jackson told MLB's official website. "Obviously, you're disappointed, clearly you don't like the way you pitched. Clearly, I know I'm a way better pitcher than I've been showing.

"You can talk about it all day, but you still have to go on the field and prove it."

Jackson yielded two runs and four hits in 5 1-3 innings in his only other start against San Francisco this season, a 5-0 road loss May 28. He's 1-3 with a 4.75 ERA in his last six matchups.

Former Cub Angel Pagan and Pablo Sandoval have given him the most trouble among current Giants hitters. Pagan is 6 for 9 lifetime against Jackson and Sandoval is 8 for 15.

Chris Coghlan is 3 for 6 in his career versus Peavy and Ryan Sweeney is 3 for 7. Anthony Rizzo, who has four homers in his last eight games, is 1 for 6 with no home runs lifetime against the veteran right-hander.